iPhone Peggle clone forced to change name

Peggie, a recently released iPhone clone of Peggle, has been forced to change …

The iPhone is no stranger to game clones, and a number of titles based on classic games have been put up on the App Store, only to be pulledsoon after. Now a title that bears a striking resemblance to the classic puzzler Peggle—in terms of both name and gameplay—has been forced to change its name thanks to a cease and desist order from PopCap.

MTV Multiplayer is reporting that Peggie, which was just released on the App Store yesterday, has since changed its name to Pegs in Space after the action taken by PopCap. The compromise was made in an attempt to avoid confusion should PopCap choose to launch an iPhone version of Peggle in the future, which seems very likely given the developers history of porting popular games. But in spite of the similarities between the two games, developer JSeuss says that it wasn't attempting to deceive consumers.

“We never intended to create such confusion with the release of our title, and as such, we were happy to make the name change,” a company representative explained. “We love PopCap’s game as much as the next gamer, and we’d really like to see an iPhone version hit the shelves soon.”

Of course, despite JSeuss' comments, its clear that the developer was hoping to ride on the success of Peggle by creating a similar game with a virtually identical name. Then again, PopCap is also familiar with the concept of game clones, as a number of its most popular titles are based on classic arcade games.